Garment



Aug. 15, 1939. D. B. CLEVELAND 2,169,759

' GARMENT Filed Jan. 14, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR F1TTY.

' is generally covered by a brassire.

Patented Aug. 15, 1939 UNITED STATES rA'rE'r OFFICE GARMENT DorothyBeale Cleveland, Los Angeles, Calif. Application January 14, 1939,Serial No. 251,025

4 Claims.

This invention relates to garments in general which are constructed toaccommodate a changing waist line without sacrificing a balancedcondition of the hem of the garment with the floor. Hereto-fore, thebottom substantially horizontal hems of skirts and the like would becomeunparallel or unbalanced with the floor level when the waist or similarenvirons of the wearer materially changed in girth. A woman passingthrough the maternal processes especially finds it diflicult andtroublesome to constantly correct for skirt unbalances and it is thepurpose of this invention to alleviate and avoid these inconveniences.Although the garment is especially useful as a maternity dress or thelike, it is by no means limited to such use. The invention also hasadvantages when incorporated in ordinary dresses and slips for thereason that it can be easily adjusted and predesigned for persons ofdifferent sizes and yet neatly drap all persons with perfect comfort.

Tli e "garment preferably combines the bust and skirt portions which maybe made of a single piece of goods or separately designed and sewedtogether. The skirt portion is made up of a front .and side panel whichoverlap toward the back,

but which are preferably tied or fastened at the front for conveniencealthough any other part about the waist line would suflice. The bustportion is of the shoulder strap type which covers the front portion ofthe body of the wearer and may or may not have resilient areas toaccommodate protruding portions of the breast which The upper part ofthe breast is out to accommodate the neck .of the wearer and hasprotruding portions to which are sewed or otherwise fixed straps whichpass over the shoulder and are fastened to one of the side panels.

An object of the invention is to create a garment which is adjustableand can be comfortably worn upon persons having various waist lineswithout sacrificing a balanced condition between the lower hem and thefloor.

Another object is to present a garment which accommodates various girthsizes of the wearers abdomen without the hem of the skirt becomingunbalanced.

Still another object is to provide a garment which is especiallydesigned for maternity use and allows ample room for freedom about thearms and shoulders and which automatically adjusts the balance of itsfloor hem with respect to the floor.

Other objects, advantages and features of my invention will appear fromthe accompanying drawings, the subjoined detailed description, thepreamble of these specifications and the appended claims.

Applicant is about to illustrate and describe one of the forms of herinvention in. order to teach one how to make, use and vend the same, butit is to be understood that the drawings and description thereof are notto limit the invention in any sense whatsoever, except as limited by theappended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a front elevational view of the invention.

Fig. 2 shows: a rear elevational view of the invention.

Fig. 3 shows a rear elevational view having a a part thereof opened.

Fig. 4 shows a side elevational view wherein the girth of the garment isreduced.

Fig. 5 shows another View similar to that of Fig. 4 but with the girth,of the garment enlarged.

The numeral I indicates the skirt of the garment having the bust portion2 and supporting straps 3 and 4. The skirt has side panels 5 and 6 whichare of suificient width to envelope the wearer rearwardly below thewaist line and also to overlap a material'distance; the waist line beingindicated by the numeral 1. Thepanel 6 laps over the panel. 5 asufficientj distance tomaintain. an appreciable lap even though thewaist line may be enlarged to a maximum for a size class of women to beaccommodated. Tie strings 8 and: 9 fasten to the upper ends of thepanels 5 and B respectively and are of sufiicient length to be wrappedabout the waist line and tied at the front thereof.

The supporting straps 3 and 4 preferably cross in the back and are fixedto the top edge of the panel 5 as shown clearly in Fig. 3 of the:drawings. The upper edge of the panel 5 is extended upwardly beyond thewaist line 1 in order to facilitate the adjustment of panel 5.

Resilient portions: I 0 and H are providedin the breast of the bust 2 topermit enlargement at this part of the body of the wearer. The garmentmay be made of any suitable material for the purposes intended such ascotton goods, rayon, silks, satin, etc., but when the resilient portionsIll and H are incorporated in the garment they may constitute expansibleribs of elastic material such as rubberized goods and the like.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a garment having a skirt with a front panel and side panels whichoverlap at the rear, a plurality of shoulder straps attached to thefront panel and to one of the side panels, the other side panel beingfree of shoulder straps.

2. In a gannent, a front portion, a first side panel and a second sidepanel attached to the front portion, a shoulder strap attached to eachside of the front portion and to said first panel, means for fasteningthe second panel in overlapping relation with the first panel.

3. In a. garment having a front piece and a first and second side panelattached thereto, said front piece including a breast section with aneck portion, a shoulder strap extending from each side of the neckportion to said first panel, means for adjusting the second panel overthe first panel at the rear of the garment.

4. In a garment having a front piece and side panels attached thereto,an. extension section at the top of one of the side panels, shoulderstraps attached at the sides of the front piece and attached to saidsection.

DOROTHY B. CLEVELAND.

